bocung

In March, I booked a round trip flight for two between Houston and Athens with this company for a September departure. Price was good, flights would be provided by Air Canada with one stop in Montreal each way. After I paid this company for the trip, I logged on Air Canada website, found my reservation, and bought seat reservations for me and wife for the four legs of our trip. Everything was good until....

Today, I was just messing around on the Internet and clicked on the Air Canada website and found that the airlines has changed the flight from Montreal to Athens to 4 hours earlier and that would mean we would miss it if we were to take the Houston to Montreal flight as originally scheduled. No one has contacted me about this change. I called Air Canada and was told I would have to contact the travel company. Called and emailed the travel company for the last few hours and have not been able to talk to a live person. I'll keep trying but from now on, I will book flights with the airlines directly especillay on long trips even though it may be a little bit more expensive.

itsme

The ticket is there in your name, paid in full I take it. How do you think you would be better off had you purchased it directly from Air Canada rather than having had it purchased it for you by the travel company? I don't see why Air Canada should be any less obliged to accommodate you having rescheduled you international flight to a time you can't make. I would call Air Canada back and demand to know from them why you shouldn't expect them to arrange things for you rather than tell you to go back to the travel company.

obscure2k

Please continue to follow this thread in the Air Canada Forum
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Stranger

Except, that's not how it works. Most travel agents want to retain control in which case the airline will send you back to the TA. Whose job it is to make the changes.

As the OP recognizes, lesson is, to the extent that one can, always better to book directly with the airline. If one wants/needs to use a TA, at least make sure he is a reliable one.

I stay away from travelocity, expedia and the like. Although some are probably worse.

MSPeconomist

jc94

Even if you book with a TA they should provide you with the travel references for all carriers (CWT and BCD do, along with a few OLTAs that family have used which I would never risk).
That way, you can add it to the AC app and even if you can't change it you will get told if it changes.

I refuse to use Expedia now due to bad experiences when things change and you have to deal with them vs the airline. Exactly as how the OP has posted - and I doubt Expedia has improved since I last used them 10 years ago.
It's very unfortunate, but given all airlines do this I feel the blame does not actually fall with AC here. It would obviously be better if they didn't change the flight by 4 hours but it did happen well in advance.

OP - Good luck getting in touch with the company you used. Feel free to name and shame them though I do wonder if this thread will get moved to a different forum

SparseFlyer

He would be better of (in general) because:

1. You can reach anyone at the airline to fix the ticket, whereas a TA might be a lot harder to reach (and with how low they make in margins selling tickets, wouldn't expect half of them to be super in a hurry about it)

2. TAs are more likely to have cold feet in changing tickets because they get debited sometimes nasty amounts when they do a mistake, so they'll triple check everything. An airline CSR that puts you in J from Y for no reason will not get their personal account debited.


However, if you get a REAL proper TA, then they will work "magic" for you. But these aren't online TAs, and they probably charge you fees for all the transactions you do through them. The TAs that can do all their ticketing and fares without having to queue it anywhere else are invaluable.

I've heard there are a few TAs on this forum, but I don't know if they can advertise their business here.

YEG_SE4Life

I never use a TA to book flights, so I am not speaking from any experience.

You do have a few months, however, to get this worked out. I think you should wait until Monday to see if you can get in touch with a person, and not get too concerned if nobody contacts you prior to then.

my .02.

SparseFlyer

This.

Also call them with alternate flights that could work. If you call them and say "fix it", you're likely going to get first option they see.

See what you want, and give them a couple options of what could work for you. Probably millions of passengers get schedule changes every year on every airline. It's not a big deal.

eigenvector

Fiordland

I have had this kind of thing happen in the past and agree. In principle the TA is not doing their job.

When you call the airline, you need to ask them to "take over" the reservation since the TA is not returning your calls or e-mails and did not inform you of the change. (Yes, when you book through a TA, the process is the airline tells the TA of the change and the TA as their agent asks you if it is ok).

If it is a ticket that involves code-share or multiple airlines then it is slightly more tricky. There is one airline that has issued the ticket as is acting on behalf of the other airlines. The airlines that issued the ticket is the one that can take over the reservation.

itsme

I wonder what the relevant ones might be. The airline might direct you back to the TA, but if you say the TA hasn't responded, can the carrier decline to put things right? I don't see how they can take less responsibility in the end than of you had purchased directly from them.

If someone thinks I'm wrong, please tell me why.

RangerNS

Because, per upthread, that simply is not how the travel industry works.

Specifically, schedule is not something that you purchase. Ever. Even direct from the airlines.

But direct from the airline, the airline would be pleased to help the PAX, and would probably automatically (though not the automatic solution may be undesirable). Through a TA, it is the TA who is responsible for helping the PAX.

smallmj

I don't know what TA you used, but for a non-urgent case like this I wouldn't be too upset that they haven't gotten back to you yet. As others have said, give it until the end of Monday.

It is frustrating that they haven't contacted you about the change. Some of the lesser online travel agencies can really jerk people around. I hope this doesn't happen to you.

bocung

Air Canada said changes to my flights had to be made by the travel agent and hence I've been having to track down the TA. I'm pretty sure had I purchased the tickets directly from Air Canada, Air Canada would inform me when they make changes to my flights, and make appropriate arrangement to get me to Athens.